Roswell UFOs

UFO’s and Popular Culture – A Saucerful of Secrets

Tags: Culture, Popular, Saucerful, Secrets, UFOs
Posted in UFOs on April 27th, 2011 by Ryqn Roswell

by hsuyo

A 2001 survey of 183 college students at a regional university in North Carolina found that nearly one in four reported having a unidentified flying object (UFO)-like experience or anomalous light sighting of some kind (Dewan 2006). This finding was relatively comparable to similar studies undertaken over the past several decades.1 Additional follow-up interviews were conducted with students willing to discuss their experiences further and with other individuals reporting similar experiences from around the country. Because such tantalizing data necessitate a more holistic approach to analysis, the use of folklore theory, the experience-centered approach of David Hufford, and insights from cognitive anthropology suggest that UFO accounts may be understood more fruitfully to be based on real, unusual experiences that instigate a complex interaction between the event, existing cultural traditions, and mental schemas. Accounts of anomalous light experiences are best categorized as a particular type of personal experience narrative, the memorate. A detailed case study of interviews conducted with three members of a single family illustrates the integration of these three theoretical perspectives in the analysis of narratives, concluding that personal experiences play a major role in the development and maintenance of the UFO phenomenon.

Whereas much of the past research focused on the study of anomalous lights as a whole, my study particularly emphasizes aerial anomalies generally included within the realm of the UFO phenomenon, in part because of its exceptional growth and popularity in American culture during the past fifty years. The UFO domain has grown to include, for example, animal mutilations, crop circles, mysterious figures known commonly as “men in black” (or MIB), alien abductions, and speculations concerning varying degrees of government conspiracy. For the purposes of this article, UFOs themselves are placed within the more straightforward category of anomalous lights while concurrently understood to exist as part of a broader social movement.

Culture, Perception, and Anomalous Experience

Although the interaction of belief and experience is certainly complex, the incorporation of cognitive anthropology enriches a folkloric analysis of this issue. In doing so, the extent to which culture holds dominion over individual perceptions of experience must be addressed. A central issue involved in the study of extraordinary experiences relates to the question of how they are perceived, reported, and interpreted in a cultural sense. Cognitive anthropology maintains that recollections of past memories are not mental copies of stored originals. Rather, they are schematized, mental reconstructions of past events that are reassembled in particular circumstances for particular purposes . As Robert Schrauf has found, the cognitive analysis of autobiographical memories reveals several key elements: “[R]ecollection of the personal past is (1) essentially a reconstruction of the past, (2) prompted by a person’s affective states and ongoing beliefs and goals, and (3) constituted by the sociocultural world of the rememberer”

During an experience, a process of revision in light of the person’s beliefs and expectations occurs immediately, if not simultaneously with the experience. Once the memory is encoded, subsequent recalling acts as a reconstruction that involves the affective (emotional) states and social circumstances (e.g., campfire story) of the rememberer. Furthermore, sociocultural factors shape one’s expectations about reality, and what one remembers directly depends on one’s expectations. Although Schrauf’s study examines autobiographical memory across a long span of time and is not directly applied to single, specific memories of events, the ability to apply this approach to specific memories appears to be implied. There is also no discussion in Schrauf’s work of whether different types of experiences are recalled differently. For example, how is the recall of a particularly traumatic or exciting event fundamentally different from a more mundane, yet equally significant, memory? Linda Garro has argued that individuals tend to remember specific events that have some emotional impact on them. Despite this fact, whether one is recalling an encounter with Bigfoot in Yosemite National Park or Mr. Miller in the town grocery store, it remains understood that both memories are, in reality, social reconstructions.

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UFO’s and Popular Culture – A Saucerful of Secrets

Tags: Culture, Popular, Saucerful, Secrets, UFOs
Posted in UFOs on April 25th, 2011 by Ryqn Roswell

by Markusram

A 2001 survey of 183 college students at a regional university in North Carolina found that nearly one in four reported having a unidentified flying object (UFO)-like experience or anomalous light sighting of some kind (Dewan 2006). This finding was relatively comparable to similar studies undertaken over the past several decades.1 Additional follow-up interviews were conducted with students willing to discuss their experiences further and with other individuals reporting similar experiences from around the country. Because such tantalizing data necessitate a more holistic approach to analysis, the use of folklore theory, the experience-centered approach of David Hufford, and insights from cognitive anthropology suggest that UFO accounts may be understood more fruitfully to be based on real, unusual experiences that instigate a complex interaction between the event, existing cultural traditions, and mental schemas. Accounts of anomalous light experiences are best categorized as a particular type of personal experience narrative, the memorate. A detailed case study of interviews conducted with three members of a single family illustrates the integration of these three theoretical perspectives in the analysis of narratives, concluding that personal experiences play a major role in the development and maintenance of the UFO phenomenon.

Whereas much of the past research focused on the study of anomalous lights as a whole, my study particularly emphasizes aerial anomalies generally included within the realm of the UFO phenomenon, in part because of its exceptional growth and popularity in American culture during the past fifty years. The UFO domain has grown to include, for example, animal mutilations, crop circles, mysterious figures known commonly as “men in black” (or MIB), alien abductions, and speculations concerning varying degrees of government conspiracy. For the purposes of this article, UFOs themselves are placed within the more straightforward category of anomalous lights while concurrently understood to exist as part of a broader social movement.

Culture, Perception, and Anomalous Experience

Although the interaction of belief and experience is certainly complex, the incorporation of cognitive anthropology enriches a folkloric analysis of this issue. In doing so, the extent to which culture holds dominion over individual perceptions of experience must be addressed. A central issue involved in the study of extraordinary experiences relates to the question of how they are perceived, reported, and interpreted in a cultural sense. Cognitive anthropology maintains that recollections of past memories are not mental copies of stored originals. Rather, they are schematized, mental reconstructions of past events that are reassembled in particular circumstances for particular purposes . As Robert Schrauf has found, the cognitive analysis of autobiographical memories reveals several key elements: “[R]ecollection of the personal past is (1) essentially a reconstruction of the past, (2) prompted by a person’s affective states and ongoing beliefs and goals, and (3) constituted by the sociocultural world of the rememberer”

During an experience, a process of revision in light of the person’s beliefs and expectations occurs immediately, if not simultaneously with the experience. Once the memory is encoded, subsequent recalling acts as a reconstruction that involves the affective (emotional) states and social circumstances (e.g., campfire story) of the rememberer. Furthermore, sociocultural factors shape one’s expectations about reality, and what one remembers directly depends on one’s expectations. Although Schrauf’s study examines autobiographical memory across a long span of time and is not directly applied to single, specific memories of events, the ability to apply this approach to specific memories appears to be implied. There is also no discussion in Schrauf’s work of whether different types of experiences are recalled differently. For example, how is the recall of a particularly traumatic or exciting event fundamentally different from a more mundane, yet equally significant, memory? Linda Garro has argued that individuals tend to remember specific events that have some emotional impact on them. Despite this fact, whether one is recalling an encounter with Bigfoot in Yosemite National Park or Mr. Miller in the town grocery store, it remains understood that both memories are, in reality, social reconstructions.

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UFOs Invade Manhattan With First Annual Culture of Contact Festival

Tags: Annual, Contact, Culture, Festival, First, Invade, Manhattan, UFOs, With
Posted in UFOs on February 26th, 2011 by Ryqn Roswell

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 25, 2007

New York City will play host to scholars, entertainers, artists, UFO enthusiasts and actual alien abductees in the first annual UFO’s: The Culture of Contact Multimedia Festival June 22-24. Marking the 60th anniversary of the Kenneth Arnold UFO sightings, which initiated the modern UFO era, the festival will feature movies, lectures by top investigators, music, theater and artwork related to UFO/Alien contact. The Festival will be held at the Pioneer Theater, Lit Lounge and P.S. 63, all in Manhattan’s own bastion of the unusual: the East Village.

Close Encounters of a New York Kind

Sponsored by UFO Magazine and JayVay Productions, the 3-day Culture of Contact Festival will give the public a chance to sample the many ways UFOs have impacted modern culture. The festival is conceived and curated not only by educators, investigators and scholars, but by individuals whose interest in the phenomenon is as up close and personal as it gets: actual UFO witnesses and alien abductees.

Attendees to this groundbreaking event will enjoy:

Classic “flying saucer” sci-fi films and new UFO movies
Lectures and panel discussions by renowned scientists, investigators, witnesses, authors and abductees
Live music inspired by UFO’s and sci-fi
Theater, standup and readings
A gallery of UFO art by abductees and enthusiasts

Participating personalities include bestselling authors Budd Hopkins and William J. Birnes, noted psychic and UFOlogist Farah Yurdozu, and UFO investigator-filmmaker-author Jeremy Vaeni.

Marking 60 Years of a Worldwide Phenomenon With a Manhattan First

Culture of Contact Festival organizer and participant Jeremy Vaeni explains that UFO festivals are popular around the country, but this is the first time one of this scope has come to Manhattan.

“It’s been 60 years since UFOs exploded into the public consciousness,” Vaeni says. “They’ve impacted everything from movies to literature to pop music to television. What better place to celebrate this global phenomenon than New York City, the center of the universe for art, culture and entertainment.”

Detailed schedule, tickets, directions:

http://www.cultureofcontact.com

Sponsors and Supporters

About UFO Magazine: For over 20 years, UFO Magazine has been a leading source of information on UFO sightings, alien encounters, conspiracies, new technologies and the unknown. http://www.ufomag.com

Pioneer Theater: The Two Boots Pioneer Theater is a new but old-fashioned neighborhood movie theater. Mixing current independent and foreign films with special programs and retrospectives, THE PIONEER is a haven for filmmakers and film lovers alike. The Pioneer has hosted a mix of independent premieres, revivals of classic films, film festivals and ongoing special series.

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